Yes, you heard that right: in an interview with Los Angeles radio station Power 106, which aired on the radio this morning, Justin Bieber announces his retirement. When asked about his new album, the singer says “I’m actually, uh, I’m retiring, man… I’m just gonna take some time. I think I’m probably gonna quit music.”

The Internet, unsurprisingly, had strong feelings about this news — mostly feelings that comprised the word “no” with the letter “o” repeated several times.

But, though Bieber’s raspy voice doesn’t quite indicate sarcasm, Beliebers can stand down: TMZ talked to his people and they confirm that he was just kidding.

Of course, this is not the first time a star has dropped the r-word without really intending to turn to a life of leisure. Bieber’s jape does, however, indicate that celebrity retirement has crossed into new territory: enough people have cried wolf on retirement that it’s now an easy (and not actually un-funny) joke to make about the celebrity world. But perhaps Bieber should let the fable teach him a lesson: be careful with your retirement jokes, or people might not notice when you eventually mean it. After all, it’s already the case that not every online response to the joke announcement was one of horror: